


The Prince & The Pauper

by Aphroditee



Category: DBSK | Tohoshinki | TVfXQ | TVXQ, NU'EST
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Crack Relationships, Historical Fantasy, Implied Mpreg, M/M, Mpreg, Multi, Yaoi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-26
Updated: 2015-05-26
Packaged: 2018-04-01 08:09:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4012201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aphroditee/pseuds/Aphroditee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Ren falls in love with the Princess's bethrothed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Prince & The Pauper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During the reign of King Lu Yan II, the Queen Consort, gifted by gods, gave birth to only males. In order to make peace with the Kingdom of the North -- Silo -- there needed to be a Princess. The Emperor, took a younger wife in order to see if his luck would change. The oracles predicted a Princess within nine months. To Lu Yan's dismay, his new wife bore him twins. Two baby boys. Peace needed to be established, and the King was running out of time. The King kept one boy and kept his identity hidden beneath a dress, while the other twin, was given away to an indigent.

 

 "Another one, your highness."

 

The words taste like vinegar inside Lu Yan's mouth. He plays with the golden band on his thumb, he rotates it one last time before stepping inside the Queen's chambers. He hides his disappointment with a smile and tries to ignore the midwife's words. Rather than congratulating his newborn in the cradle of his arms, Lu Yan heads towards his bedded wife. The room smells of blood, and a citrus scent derived from thyme.

 

He gazes at what once used to be an enviable beauty. He remembers poems and myths being told about her elegance, even the goddesses desired her charm. Sweat decorates the arch of the Queen's brow, her lips are swollen, and what used to be a beautiful figure is now deformed over the course of nine months. "Are you well milady?" he asks. The Queen had been screaming all night. Lu Yan doesn't bother sitting down, he keeps standing.

 

"This is the third boy I give you," she whispers, "Are you not happy?" she asks, knowing the answer very well.

 

Lu Yan assumes the disenchantment must be obvious in his eyes, he swears he has been smiling. "A child is always a blessing, but," he adds in a subtle whisper, "the Kingdom of Lyon needs a Princess. How will we end the war with Silo if we do not have a princess?"

 

"Please be patient, I can try again. I can get pregnant again," she implores in the midst of her tears. The repudiation of the King towards the boy felt like a stab to her heart. She remembers the midwife telling her she was with child. It had made the King rather jovial for months.

 

Kings prayed that the seed in their Queen's womb resulted in a boy, they'd be the ones to rule after them ... but Lu Yan, he needed a girl in order to save his Kingdom, and Q'ara had given him the opposite of that.

 

Lu Yan shakes his head, "No milady. The Physician said your body is no longer adequate to keep bearing children. You are past thirty, getting pregnant again could risk your life. I will not let that happen."

 

The Queen Consort seeks the touch of her husband's strong hands. She wants to feel comfort despite her failure at producing a Princess. Elik and Aron would be the heirs of Lu Yan's throne, and now a third would be added to the list. "Will you at least name the child." Lu Yan leans down and presses his soft lips upon the forehead of his Queen.

 

"You can give him any name your heart desires milady." Q'ara stares as she watches her husband leave, the black cloak disappearing from the threshold of her room. She only allows one droplet to roll down her porcelain skin, no more. Not once does Lu Yan show his interest for the newborn, and it scares Q'ara. She tucks away her face into the darkness, and the cloudy room protects her sorrow. The Kingdoms of Silo and Lyon have been at war for a decade, thousands of men have lost their lives protecting her and her people. She remembers being pregnant with Elik when it broke out, and nothing has changed ever since.

 

The Kingdom of the North was far richer than Lyon, and Lyon would soon end in depression, their people starved, and would sooner than not, perish, and it was all Q'ara's fault. Q'ara sits up against the rigidity of her bed and calls for the presence of her son. The baby wails in the crook of his mother's arms, but that doesn't stop Q'ara from peppering his tender skin with kisses, shushing him with a foreign melody. "I will call you Bristan," she mumbles under her hot, heavy breath. "For you were meant to be a girl."

 

....

 

"She's but a girl milady, twenty is what I heard." Q'ara sighs, the corset she wears flattens her stomach, giving her the desired curve she had before her pregnancy; but it proves a difficult task when it comes to balancing the rhythm of her breathing. Q'ara knew Lu Yan was desperate, but not that desperate. The inauguration of their third son hadn't been established, yet there he was, frolicking around with a lady of her court like a lovesick boy. He would pamper the girl with expensive gifts, and silk dresses. "Her name is Adorra." _Adorra_ , sighs the Queen, _even the name is beautiful._

 

Q'ara swallows the pain as her eyes gaze out the window, she sees Lu Yan riding his stallion with the company of his new interest, Adorra. She wears an elegant green dress, her long coffee brown hair cascading down her waist in a set of voluptuous curls. Q'ara pulls away from the arched window and walks towards Briston's moses. She runs a hand across her cheek, reminiscing her youth. She breaths in a sporadic rhythm, the walls of her throat constrict, making it difficult to even think. I'm stronger than this, she thinks. He still loves me ... I know he does. Q'ara holds onto Bristan's pinkie finger and swears she will not shed a tear, but it proves useless, for the Queen in all her glory and solitude weeps for her husband. They had been in love once, she remembers, but failing to produce the girl Lu Yan wanted sent their love down a dark abyss.

 

Bristan is barely awake, but Q'ara can see the hazel in his eyes with the help of the setting sun. She's afraid of losing the King's approval, afraid of losing her title; but her maiden assures her that she's the legitimate Queen, no one will be able to change that. "There is talk of marriage," says the maiden. "They say Adorra is already with child."

 

Q'ara clenches her jaw but keeps her eyes glued on Bristan, "Is that so?" she asks. "Is that why she wears the Queen's jewels?"

 

The maiden shy's her head away and stares at the elegant granite floor. "I suppose the King is happy ... the Oracle has predicted a Princess."

 

"A Princess?"

 

"Yes, milady."

 

"How far along is she?"

 

"Five months."

 

Q'ara extends her arms and picks up Bristan. She envelops him close to her chest and rocks her body side to side. Bristan releases a soft wail of discomfort, but he is rapidly shushed with a kiss upon his forehead. Q'ara guesses there isn't much she can do. "I'd like to speak to her," Q'ara says in a soft voice. "Bring her to me once the King is no longer with her." Her maiden bows her head and promises to do just that.

 

....

 

Adorra gets off the King's horse with his assistance, he's afraid of not handling her new-weight properly. He's afraid of losing what he's wanted most in order to contain order within the Kingdoms of Lyon and Silo. He's afraid of losing the one woman who tamed his cold, despicable heart. He vowed to take her somewhere private, somewhere far away from the eyes of the court. Lu Yan helps Adorra's green dress fall completely to the ground, the velvet material hugging her baby bump. The King wraps his arms around Adorra's waist and kisses her tenderly across her forehead. They stand before a large pond, large pines decorating its perimeter; Adorra's eyes widen at the sight of swans floating above the clear blue water. "I've never felt as happy as I do now. You will save my Kingdom." Adorra smiles at the King's affection, but there's something about his statement that lacks fondness. Almost as if he were using her, and it saddens her, just a bit.

 

Adorra stares into Lu Yan's honey eyes, she turns to face him and threads her fingers through his auburn hair, which appears like the sun from behind a cloud. "You do love me ... don't you Lu Yan?" she asks, afraid of using his actual name. She had caught his attention months back at a banquet when she livened the mood by reciting poems. The King had found her innocence irreplaceable.

 

Lu Yan gazes into her brown eyes and caresses the underside of her cheek, "Why wouldn't I love you Adorra?" Adorra feels her heart skip a beat at Lu Yan's masculine voice. "You're giving me what the Queen didn't, a little girl. You're giving me your whole being, and I can't help but fall in love with you a little more with each passing day. You're the sun to my night." The woman hides her blushing cheeks underneath Lu Yan's chin. She circles her arms around his waist and flashes a smile as she counts the beats of his heart. It sounds like a melody written just for her.

 

"Have you thought of a name?" Adorra asks.

 

Lu Yan hums in thought, he takes a seat beneath a large pine and pulls the young woman with a soft tug on top of his thighs. Adorra's hair smells of lavender with a small hint of vanilla. He comes to yearn her scent, he even finds himself daydreaming about the young woman and her presence. Lu Yan rests his hands above the young girl's swollen belly, soft baby kicks forcing a ghosted smile across his lips.

 

"I like the name of Soah. Let's call her that."

 

Adorra smoothens Lu Yan's hands and closes her eyes. The slight circling movements he inflicts upon her clothed stomach elicits a hum of contentment from her pursed lips. She has never been happier than now. She has the King's devotion, the Princess he's always wanted, nothing could go wrong.

 

"Adorra ..." he whispers. The young woman flutters her eyes open and looks up at him, nodding.

 

"Yes, my lord."

 

Lu Yan's lips shift into a smile and leans in to plant a slow kiss upon her lips. He loves it when Adorra calls him by his title, it sends a chill running down his spine. He slides his hand inside the pocket of his fitted breeches and withdraws a purple velvet box. Adorra shift in his lap, her eyes slightly augmenting in size. He opens the box with a slight pop, revealing inside the velvet cushion, a neatly laid diamond ring. "Will you marry me?"

 

Tears slip down from Adorra's almond shaped eyes. The question catches her off guard. She stares at the ring, and looks backs to lock eyes with Lu Yan's hazel eyes.

 

"Will you let me spend the rest of my days by your side?"

 

Tears blur the corner of her eyes, and as if by impulse, Adorra's arms circle Lu Yan's neck. She sings a string of yes's. Lu Yan withdraws slowly from Adorra's pulse. He slips the diamond ringer into her wedding finger. "I know I can't give you a formal ceremony quite yet," he whispers as he nuzzles his nose against hers, "But I love you, I choose you over everything in this world. You're my wife now Adorra, and I will protect you with my life, I will promise you that."

 

"My lord," Adorra kisses Lu Yan's lips while cupping his face against the smooth crevice of her hands, "I will take care of your heart till the day I day, I promise _you_ that."

  
....

 

After the completion of four months, Adorra wakes up one night to discomfort across her lower abdomen. She shifts to the right in order to appease the stabbing jolts that run from one end of her stomach to the other. Adorra moans quietly in displeasure at the sensation overtaking her body. She modifies her position and slowly turns to the other side. The torture is too much to bear, the young woman flutters her eyes open and calls out for her ladies in waiting. Adorra does her best at sitting up, she cups an arm protectively over her belly. "Help .." she mumbles loudly. "Please!" She thought that maybe her rapid heart beats had to do with a haunting memory in her dream, but it was the horror of going into labor that woke her up.

 

Three of her ladies in waiting push past the double doors of her chamber and rush to her side. "Your Highness, what's wrong?" they inquire with worried expressions spread across their features. They've never seen Adorra in so much pain, and they're afraid that something else might be wrong.

 

"Call ... C-Call for the m-midwive .... the King ..." Adorra whispers as she clenches her eyes shut while trying to balance the rhythm of her breathing.

 

One of the ladies in waiting runs past the threshold of her room towards the wing of the King's chamber's. The other remains by her side while the third leaves the protection of the castle walls in order to find the midwife in charge of Adorra's safe delivery. The lady in waiting that remains by her side rushes to get a rag of warm water. She manages to fill a circular bowl with lukewarm water and dips the white rag inside the crystalline liquid.

 

"Everything will be alright," the lady in waiting says while wiping away the sweat from Adorra's forehead. "You will have a healthy baby girl, I assure you."

 

"Is the King here?" Adorra asks while sinking her white like cotton teeth upon the tenderness of her bottom lip.

 

The wooden doors push open and Lu Yan enters with an excited grin on his face. "Milady," Lu Yan exclaims in anxiousness. He rushes to her side and laces his fingers with his beloved. He decorates her warm skin with kisses and whispers sweet-nothings to keep her calm.

 

"I'm scared," she whispers in the confinement of their proximity.

 

"You'll be alright my love," he states with certainty. Adorra stares into his hazel eyes and presses her forehead against his. Only when she's in the warmth of his strong, muscular arms does Adorra feel safe and at ease. Suddenly the labor pains dwindle down in magnitude, and she sighs a gust of relief.

 

Much of the Kingdom knows that the King's new wife is in labor, the lady in waiting had proclaimed it as she seeked for the midwife.

 

Meanwhile, Q'ara rocks Bristan in her arms, but his sobs reverberate across the stoned walls. She wishes for the King to come through her doors. She wishes that he could at least pay attention to their son. To a future heir of his Kingdom. Q'ara presses the bundle wrapped in linen against her chest, she realizes Lu Yan will do no such thing. She understands that Lu Yan would much rather stay by the side of Adorra than by hers. Not even when she gave birth to Elik, the elder of his lineage, was he present to calm her nerves. He had always been a ghost. It was no different now.

 

"Shhh," coos Q'ara against Bristan's skull, "You're fine," she says with no emotion. "You're fine without daddy, I'm here. I'm here to protect you."

 

Q'ara hears the trampling of feet echo down her hall. She listens attentively to the orders given by Adorra's lady-in-waiting to the midwife as they run to help Lu Yan's new gem. Q'ara feels tempted to be a part of the commotion, but she remembers she's Queen Consort, and that her heart cannot pity that of another woman whose threatened her position. She remains hidden in her room; she ends up singing Bristan to sleep.

 

"Push! Push milady!"

 

Adorra squeezes her eyes shut and tries to control her breathing. Her insides stretch out by a force she's not reckoned with. Her whole body is numb, and as she pushes, the outline of her canva permeates with sweat. "I can't!" she yells in agony. "It hurts! I can't!" she yells with less force than before. Her legs shake, but the midwife keeps them apart.

 

"You can do it child," says the old midwife. "You're almost there."

 

Lu Yan paces back and forth outside Adorra's chambers. The midwife ordered him to reside in the hallway while the child came out, but Adorra's screams stab his heart, and he worries over the health of his wife, he worries over the outcome of his child. "Please calm down your grace," whispers his loyal attendant, Jaejoong. "I'm sure everything will turn out fine."

 

"I don't know Jaejoong," Lu Yan mumbles while running a palm through his auburn hair. "Something doesn't feel right."

 

"Her Highness is a strong woman, she'll come out well."

 

"I hope so," whispers Lu Yan in all his worry. He thinks about the slim possibility of losing Adorra and it frightens him. He's become so accustomed to her smile, to her innate happiness and constant praise despite his obvious flaws, that he thinks he might die if she weren't to survive. He'd have their child as constant reminder of his love and adoration for her.

 

Adorra clenches her jaw to protect a loud shriek from escaping the barrier of her lips. She keeps pushing despite hearing the wails of a child ringing loudly inside her ears. "Keep pushing milady," the order coming from the midwife tunes out, and she pushes until the last gust of air vanishes from her body. The midwife calls out Adorra's name, but the soul of the woman has far escaped her. The midwife paces around the room with the second child in her arms.

 

"I thought the Oracles predicted a Princess," one of the ladies-in-waiting says, she had taken notice of the male organ on the child.

 

"Twins ..." mumbles the midwife.

 

"And they're boys," exclaims another.

 

The midwife wipes away the perspiration from her brow with a clean piece of cloth. She orders that the bloody rags be burned, while the babies be washed with warm water and wrapped in clean linen afterwards. "Who will tell the King about his wife's death?" the ladies inquire in soft whispers. The midwife sighs. She does not know much about the King, but she was certain of one thing when she had seen him, there was love in his eyes. She's afraid his heart will shatter.

 

"I will," she announces, "After all, I helped deliver the babies." The midwife relaxes her shoulders and prays that he heaven's help her deliver the frail message. She fixes her bloodied brown skirt and heads out the room. Lu Yan catches notice of her and strides his way towards the older woman.

 

"My wife ..." he whispers, a smile evident on his face. It slowly clears from his face like a wilting rose when he observes the saddened expression held in the gaze of the midwife. "Adorra ... she's alright, correct?"

 

The midwife remains silent. "The girl ... she's safe ... right?" Inquires Lu Yan once more.

 

"About that ..." the midwife stares at the ground before proceeding to look at the King in the eye. "Your wife died giving birth to twins."

 

"Two baby girls?" Lu Yan asks, tears in his eyes. He holds back the knot that barricades against the walls of his throat at the remembrance of Adorra's death. The air suddenly becomes thick, making breathing a challenge.

 

The midwife shakes her head, "No sire. Your wife did not deliver two baby girls. She delivered two healthy boys."

 

"Boys?" questions the King.

 

 _It cannot be_ , he thinks. _We are doomed. I am doomed._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)


End file.
